In 2011, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (Penguin) published my dear friend Siobhan Fallon’s debut short story collection, You Know When the Men Are Gone. (If you didn’t know, Amy Einhorn is the editor who gave readers The Help by Kathryn Stockett.) Siobhan is a U.S. Army wife, and her stories delve into the lives of military families at Fort Hood in Texas over the course of a year while their soldiers are deployed to Iraq.

A poster in my neighborhood for the Z Space Word for Word stage production of YKWTMAG

And now, some of the stories from her collection, which are linked, have been adapted to the stage. If you happen to be in San Francisco from Jan. 1 through Feb. 24, 2013, get tickets to the Z Space Word for Word production. I saw an early version of it last year, and it was fantastic. Her stories are already powerful and moving—comparisons to Tim O’Brien and Raymond Carver have been made—and seeing them played out by this fine troupe of actors does nothing but enhance them.